Hillcrest Staff ARTery
We are the heART of Hillcrest!
The week of February 15th - 19th
Bus Duty:
AM - Amy G., Ally & Trista
PM - Janet, Holly & Anne
Treats: Katie & Jen
Word of the Week: Consideration
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Monday, February 15th
NO SCHOOL - PRESIDENT'S DAY
Tuesday, February 16TH (DAY 1)
- 8:20 - 9:00 - Staff Meeting
- 4:00 - 5:00 - Tech Team Meeting/Media Center
- HAWK TALK DEADLINE - FEBRUARY 17TH FOR MARCH
Wednesday, February 17th (Day 2)
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALVIN!!!
- 8:20 - 9:00 - SWIM team meeting/Caroline's room
Thursday, February 18TH (Day 3)
- 8:00 - 1:00 - Calvin out at Management Meeting
- 4:00 - 8:00 - ELA Conferences
Friday, February 19th (Day 1)
- 8:20 - 9:00 - ISST Meeting/Caroline's Room
- 3:15 - RALLY (Pie in Student Council's Face)
Upcoming Events
February is "I Love to Read" month!!!
February 25 - Conferences - 4:00 - 8:00PM
February 29 - March 4 - Hillcrest Book Fair
March 1st - Conferences - 4:00 - 6:00PM
March 3rd - Conferences - 4:00 - 8:00PM
Staff Meeting Schedule (Topics)
2/16 - Planning for SY17 (looking at activities and the calendar)
3/1 - Close Reading w/Rachel G. (Session #4)
3/15 - Test Proctor Training and other fun stuff :)
4/5 - TBD
SPECIAL THIS MONTH
African American History Month
February is African American history month. Please try to find a way to bring African American history into your classroom in some way during this month. Carolyn P. forwarded some information that was shared from our Office of Equity and Engagement that you can use. Additionally, you can find a wealth of teacher resources at the Smithsonian.
I LOVE TO READ Month
The bright pink I Love to Read Month Calendar & letter home in your staff mailboxes should go home today (Friday) if it hasn't already. Students will have the chance to complete fun, daily reading challenges. If they complete twenty one out of twenty nine days in February, they can bring it to Marcia for a prize, and will be entered in a drawing to read one on one with Mr. K.
Wednesdays at 3:15 until it's time to pack up will be Hillcrest D.E.A.R. time. As a staff member, please model this reading time for our kids, too!
Your classroom is challenged to turn the posterboard Belle gave you on Thursday into a book cover, or anything with the "We/I Love to Read" theme. It's a design competition to be judged on 2/26, the last Friday of February. The winner will win Book Fair Dollars for their classroom library.
The Book Fair will be at the end of I Love To Read Month, 2/29-3/4. Teacher & Student Preview Day will be that Monday. Belle will be sending out a signup for teachers to select a Class Preview time and a time later in the week to come down for purchasing. The Book Swap will be Wednesday and Thursday, 3/9 -10, and students will be able to bring and swap up to three books.
ARTFUL LEARNING
Displays . . . fresh and new
COMPAS Artists Coming to HC
February 1 - 5: Gita Ghei w/ 2nd Grade
February 2 - 24: Joko Sutrisomo w/ Music
February 16 - 24: Tri Sutrismo w/ PE
February 22 - 26: Anne McFaul Reid w/ 5th Grade
March 14 - 18: Marie Olofsdotter w/ 3rd Grade
March 28 - April 1: Christopher Lutter-Gardella w/ 1st Grade
April 4 - 8: Mick la Briola w/ ELA and TBD
May 2 -6: Mica lee Anders w/ 5th Grade
May 2 - 20: Soli Hughes w/ 4th Grade
Congratulations to Beth McCoy
Congratulations Beth!!
Coming to Hillcrest from February 2nd through 24th... ...master musician Joko Sutrisno!
In 1995, Joko brought gamelan instruments from his home island of Java, Indonesia to St. Paul, Minnesota. Bloomington Public Schools purchased the instruments which now travel amongst all 10 elementary schools. Bloomington music teachers learned basic gamelan techniques and repertoire from Joko during his tenure as a teaching artist in our schools. I'm thrilled to welcome Joko back to Hillcrest music!
For more information, go to the website of Joko's ensemble, Sumunar.
Feel free to contact me if you'd like to visit the music classroom to witness this exciting residency!
Instructional Update
ELA Curriculum Writing Representatives
Kindergarten: Trista H.
1st Grade: Amy B.
2nd Grade: Anna E.
3rd Grade: -------
4th Grade: Tracy V.
5th Grade: Katie B.
Learning Supports Update
The Sheridan Story and Hillcrest UMC Partnership
Elementary schools throughout Bloomington are building a partnership with The Sheridan Story. The Sheridan Story works with schools and districts to partner with local faith communities to sponsor a school in providing Friday food backpacks for students to fill the gap of not receiving school food over the weekend and extended breaks. The Sheridan Story handles the logistics. Hillcrest United Methodist Church (UMC) has partnered with us (as the faith based partner) and The Sheridan Story to provide funding and volunteer support to carry the program forward. You can read more about The Sheridan Story here.
The current plan is to have The Sheridan Story start providing food support for students starting next school year (Fall of 2016). Hillcrest UMC is currently working on raising funds to support food donations (we expect that 25-35 families will enroll in the program) and are hoping to provide support to our school in other ways as well (volunteering, mentoring, etc.).
More details will be coming later this spring.
Other UPDATES
HR Staffing Timeline
February 29th - Internal Transfer Process FORMS DUE!!
March 10th - 17th - Principal Staffing Meetings
April 4th - 11th - Elementary Postings on Web
April 15th - Top candidates picked and shared with HR
May 2nd - Elementary hiring
Note: If you have questions about any of this information, please contact Calvin.
Hillcrest Variety Show (change of date and new details)
- This year all students will be able to participate. As a staff we will be having discussion about the future design and role of the Variety Show later this spring.
Smart Board News
What is happening?
We will no longer purchase Smart Boards and will no longer pay for or support Notebook software as of the Fall of 2017. All SmartBoards will remain in place and will be serviced as needed until they are beyond repair.
Why the move?
SmartBoards were the right choice for us in 2007 and were a critical element in our early digitization work. As we shift to personalized devices, the next generation of classroom tech tools have greater capabilities for engagement, flexibility, accessibility and collaboration. Our role is to plan and implement a smooth transition that preserves the best uses and content for staff. We are confident we have the time and expertise for such a smooth transition.
When will we transition?
We purchased an extension of the new SMART subscription model to enable a manageable transition for staff. We will help staff transition from Smart Notebook software by summer 2017.
What is the transition plan?
Alternative resources and conversion processes are not yet finalized so please be patient with us while we do this work. Teachers require alternatives as well as the time and assistance to make a smooth transition. We will finish this work on and communicate with all staff by March 1, 2016.
Tech Team Information
September Topics
Where will printing happen?
Bring students to the lab
Check out Macbook Air cart
Individuals log in to classroom
Publishing & sharing work as alternates - Ask: Do they really need to print it?
Using The BPS HUB
Students need training on logging in and reading the Hub planner, writing notes.
It’s important to remember that the Hub’s audience is both students & parents.
October Topics
When are we sending CBs home?
Face-to-face distribution of devices for grades 3-5.
This will happen via a separate Curriculum Night/Chromebook Open House in September 2016. Specific date to be determined.
Action item: All grade levels should add headphones to Fall 2016 school supply list.
Chromebook Cases
Kids will be provided a charger, chromebook, case and a luggage tag
Luggage tags will have Student Name, Homeroom, Color coded label for Grade level, perhaps a personalized photo snippet for HC tags
Where won’t Chromebooks go in our building?
Chromebooks will not go to:
lunch
bathroom
locker rooms
bus
Action Items:
Communicate policy with our bus drivers and patrols.
November Topics
How will we prepare students to have devices?
2nd graders will have a chromebook experience this spring.
Digital Passport curriculum for digital citizenship, also this spring.
Chromebook and iPad bootcamp will be developed and taught.
How will we prepare teachers to have devices?
- Beginning in January, staff will have regular professional development focused on technology and digitization. January 25th, to be precise!
December Topics
Families without internet.
Students will be taught to use offline mode and a Chrome Extension called Pocket. It is then their job to pack up their digital backpack at the end of the day, same as a physical backpack. These students may need specific time to do so.
Hot spot pucks will be available as a short-term solution and on a very limited basis. The pucks will be available to everyone at Hillcrest with a check out period of two weeks. Pucks are very expensive and not feasible as a blanket solution, so communicating with families who might fall in this category is very important, in order to connect them with the district-suggested resources.
Coaches Corner
"Mistakes" can and do happen in classrooms every day! The challenge is to encourage students to see those mistakes as an opportunity for growth. This idea focuses around Marzano's engagement question of "Can I do this?"
My Favorite Mistake
My Favorite Mistake is a strategy that may be implemented in any content area. It is a quick and easy formative assessment which informs the teacher and the students of the direction for instruction. It provides students with immediate feedback and clarification. Below are two examples that have been observed in classrooms. The third example is a video of from The Teaching Channel showing this strategy in action.
Example 1: Elementary Math
In place of a homework assignment, the teacher asked students to complete an exit ticket problem at the end of class the day before. This teacher then sorted the exit tickets over night and used the student work to guide the direction of her instruction the next day. After seeing the common mistakes presented, she selected the exit ticket that was her "Favorite Mistake." As students transitioned into math time the next day, the teacher projected one of the students exit ticket for the remaining students to review. The class began with students highlighting successes of this exit ticket. After highlighting successes, the class identified and corrected the mistakes. This teacher empowered students to take on the role of the teacher as they worked through the problem. In addition to solidifying the concepts, the students were developing critical thinking skills through analyzing another student's work.
Example 2: Science
Teacher handed out post-it notes to all students at the beginning of class and asked them to generate a definition of a concept students had been studying the past few classes. As students turned in post-it notes to teacher, she sorted them into three piles 1.) correct, 2.) incorrect and 3.) partially correct. After sorting, the teacher selected her favorite "partially correct" post-it note. She then projected the post-it under the elmo. The class began by highlighting the portions of the definition that were correct and celebrated the successes of the student work. Then, the class identified portions that we lacking or incorrect. Teacher allowed students to use notes as a resource to make this the best possible definition they could. This activity became the introduction to today's lesson.
Example 3: Teaching Channel Video
REMINDERS
Winter Hallway Care and Cleanup
Winter is here . . .
- Please make sure students take their coats and boots home regularly, so that the hall can be kept clean.
- All boots should be put up off the floor at the end of the day (on top of hooks or in lockers).
- Please make sure that students stomp and wipe their feet before entering the hallways.
Personal Leave Requests Now Approved by Principal
Our weekly staff newsletter!
Contact Us
Email: ckeasling@isd271.org
Website: hc.bloomington.k12.mn.us
Location: 9301 Thomas Road, Bloomington, MN, United States
Phone: (952) 681-5300